BRUCE BOGMAN

DWalstan said to use fish food for plant fertilizer for a soil substrate.Does anybody just use fish food to feed fish and as fert ?If so what do you use and how much each day.I could not find info on that part.I figure it won't supply all ferts needed until I see a deficency and go from there.Any info please needed,I would like to try this method ,my other tank is EI dosing.This mts soil tank is amazing so far 1 1/2 months no ferts added and plants look amazing ,75 gallon 40 fish neons,rummynose,sae,Amano shrimps and a ton of plants.

Tex Gal

Your soil will have a lot of the nutrients your plants need for quite a while. The fish food and waste is to keep the soil replenished with nutrients. I don't think you are supposed to over feed a ton. If you do you might end up with an ammonia spike.

mudboots

Also keep in mind your plant mass and growth rate as the plants grow closer to the surface (generally where the light is, which means faster and more robust growth). One problem I noticed in my NPT's where I purposefully overfed was a build up of organics (I did not use a filter; just water movement).

Michael

I think I replied to this thread, but my post seems to have disappeared.

I use the Walstad method, and I interpret her advice to mean "feed the fish generously, but don't leave rotting fish food on the bottom of the tank". I keep lots of detritivores in my tanks--snails, shrimp, catfish, etc.--so that no food remains uneaten for long.

Fish food is a source of nutrients for both fish and plants. It is a necessary input for the tank, just like light and water. What makes fish food safe as a fertilizer for plants is that it is "processed" by the animals; eaten, digested, and excreted in a form that can quickly be broken down by bacteria into compounds that feed plants but are safe for fish. It is not like dosing synthetic fertilizers, which are used directly by the plants.